Objects at Rest
by DizzyDrea
Summary: Jack O'Neill decides to retire because there are more important things in his life than the Air Force. But he just can't stay away from the Stargate Program, no matter how hard he tries. And in truth, he hasn't tried very hard. Part 2 of Newton's First Law.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Objects at Rest  
Author: DizzyDrea  
Summary: Jack O'Neill decides to retire because there are more important things in his life than the Air Force. But he just can't stay away from the Stargate Program, no matter how hard he tries. And in truth, he hasn't tried very hard.  
Notes: This is part two of a two part story. The first part is titled "Objects in Motion." I began to think about how this show should end when, after ten years on the air, it was announced that the tenth year would be the last. But as with all things, this story changed over time. Instead of this being the end of the series, it represents a possible ending sometime in the future. These stories were inspired by the Babylon 5 episodes "Objects in Motion"/"Objects at Rest." I've borrowed the episode names, but not the details of the plots.  
Disclaimer: Stargate: SG-1 belongs to MGM and Gekko Productions, and anyone else who owns a piece of this thing. Fellas, you've done a bang-up job on this roller coaster ride. I salute you.

~o~

"Take cover!" Mitchell yelled. He didn't like this, not one bit. They were all exposed, taking fire from all sides. The two scientists weren't armed, and had dropped where they stood behind a column. It wasn't the best protection, but it was all they had.

Around him, the GO-Team, Daniel, Carter, Vala, Teal'c and Jack were returning fire, but without a clear idea of what—or who—they were firing at, it was just a waste of ammunition.

"Cease fire!" Cam called out.

The world around him went silent as both the weapons of the Stargate teams and the unseen enemy stopped. That was odd.

"Is everyone undamaged?" Teal'c called to the group.

Murmurs of "I'm okay" rippled around the group. The most severe injuries seemed to be to pride. That was better than the alternative.

Jack, having been near the rear of the group, was taking cover among the outermost circle of columns. He stuck his head out to take stock of the situation. A blast to the column he was hiding behind made him think better of that idea.

Vala, who had been watching the rear of the group, was hiding behind the column next to his. "We need to get out of here," she told him, holding her gun at her side, unsure where to fire since the weapons blasts seemed to be coming from all sides.

"We're gonna hafta run for it if we want to get to cover closer to the middle," he informed her. "You ready?"

At Vala's nod, Jack called out to the rest of the group. "Okay, everyone stay down," he called out. "We're gonna see if we can work in closer to you."

He didn't like being so far out on the edge of the columns. They were large, nearly three feet in diameter at the base, but being on the outer edge, it was too easy for weapons fire to reach them.

As soon as he rose and started moving in towards the rest of the group, the mystery weapons started firing again. Ducking down to make himself as small a target as possible, he and Vala made their way over to Teal'c's position, nearer the center of the columns.

Vala dove behind the column next to Teal'c, joining Daniel, while O'Neill crouched down behind his large friend. They were all still too spread out, but his first concern was to identify and then neutralize the enemy.

"What do you think, Teal'c?" Jack wanted to know. "Taks? Angry Jaffa?"

"I do not believe that we are being fired upon by Jaffa, O'Neill," Teal'c informed his friend.

"Must be some kind of automated system," Vala put in. "We must have triggered it somehow."

"Yeah, but how?" Daniel remarked. "This didn't happen when I came here with SG-7."

"Well, we need to find out for sure," Jack said, trying to come up with a plan. "Think we can sneak around to that hillside and see what's going on?" he asked Teal'c.

"It will be difficult, but we appear to have no choice," Teal'c returned solemnly.

Jack tossed a glance at Vala who just rolled her eyes. "Okay, Teal'c, Vala, you're with me. Carter," he called out, turning to look behind him, finding her crouched behind a column a few feet away. "See if you can get the rest of the team closer to the center of the colonnade. The cover should be better."

"Got it," she replied with a nod, a familiar sense of confidence rippling through her. This was just like old times, and she knew from long experience that there wasn't a situation they'd faced yet that they couldn't find a way out of.

Jack turned and nodded to Vala and Teal'c. Vala dropped her hand to Daniel's shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze. "I'll be back in a few, Darling," she told him as she prepared to move away.

"Thanks for the warning," Daniel replied cheekily, tossing her a smile for luck.

"Since when is he in charge?" Mitchell called out, watching Jack, Teal'c and Vala get ready to move out.

"Since we started getting shot at," came Carter's crisp reply.

Mitchell nodded his head. "Good to know."

~o~

Jack, Teal'c and Vala watched as Sam and Mitchell, with the GO team covering them, moved the science team closer to the room at the center of the colonnade. When the weapons fire died down, and it appeared that the rest of the team was safe for the moment, Jack gave the order to move out.

Columns exploded all around them as they moved further out towards the edge of the courtyard. When they'd reached the path leading away from the structure, they began to make a run for it, only to notice that the firing had stopped.

"That's odd," Vala observed, looking at her two companions.

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed.

"Okay," Jack said, wanting to take advantage of the relative quiet while they could. "Let's move up the hillside and see if we can tell where the blasts are coming from."

As one they set off for the rise leading back the way they came, running along the crest until they reached the cover of the trees.

"Keep any eye out for anything suspicious," Jack directed.

"At this point, anything is suspicious," Vala returned with a smirk.

They made their way among the trees, staying in the interior to remain hidden. Teal'c suddenly stopped and raised his hand, the others dropping where they stood.

"O'Neill," he called in a low voice.

Both Jack and Vala moved to flank Teal'c, following his pointing finger until they both saw what had caught his attention. Pulling his scope out of his vest, Jack looked at the object with interest.

"What is it?" Vala inquired.

"Looks like some kind of small cannon. I don't recognize the design," Jack said, eyes still focused on his target. "T, think you can hit it?"

"You sure that's wise?" Vala put in.

"Only one way to find out," Jack returned, tucking his scope back into his vest. Nodding at Teal'c, he gave the go-ahead.

Teal'c raised his staff weapon and primed it. Taking a deep breath, eyes focused, he pulled the trigger, letting loose a blast of his own. The staff blast impacted the cannon, causing a shimmering effect as its shields absorbed the energy. Immediately, the cannon swiveled around and fired two shots directly at them.

Jack and Vala dove for cover, while Teal'c merely crouched down further in an attempt to make himself smaller.

"Great, now it's firing on us up here!" Vala called out.

"I do not believe so, Vala Mal Doran," came Teal'c's sedate reply.

Indeed, after firing the two shots at the intruders, the cannon swiveled back to point at the colonnade below and fell silent.

"You guys okay up there?" came Mitchell's tense voice over the radio.

Jack grabbed his radio through his vest and snapped off a reply. "Just peachy," he snarked. "We're heading back, so stay under cover," he ordered.

"Roger," came Mitchell's confirmation.

Looking at his two companions, Jack shrugged. "So they're only dangerous while we're down there," he observed.

"Or while we're shooting at them up here," Vala observed wryly.

"It would seem so," Teal'c agreed with both his companions.

Scrubbing his hand over his face and readjusting his favorite hat, Jack cocked his head in the direction they had come. "Shall we?"

~o~

When they reached the bottom of the rise, they stopped at the FRED and regrouped. Amazingly, it hadn't suffered any damage in the chaos that had erupted as the cannons fired at the team.

"We've got to find better cover," Jack said, eyeing the colonnade critically.

"Maybe we should have the others pull back here," Vala suggested. "The FRED seems to be outside the kill zone."

"That would require exposing the science team to weapons fire once again," Teal'c pointed out. "Daniel Jackson has experience with this. The others do not."

Jack nodded his head in agreement. "They're safer where they are." At Vala's smirk, he amended his statement. "As long as they don't move."

"Well, we've got to do something," she said. "Every time one of us sticks their head out, we risk getting it blown off."

"And you thought this was going to be a boring mission," Jack returned, sarcasm dripping from every syllable.

Vala smirked once more, then turned to survey the area, hoping for some inspiration.

Jack, meanwhile, reached for the radio on his vest. "Carter, you copy?" he called out.

"Yes, sir," he could hear over the radio. He chuckled a little. Funny how people reverted to their comfort zone when things went bad. She probably didn't even know she was doing it.

"Got any ideas?" he asked, knowing she would have been thinking about this while they were gone.

"Matter of fact, I do," she confirmed.

"Let's have it."

"I think we'd be better off inside the room, sir," she said.

Jack turned and met Teal'c's eyes, surprise reflecting in both sets. Remembering the briefing, he asked the only important question there was. "Can you even get inside without the combination?"

"We think so," she said.

"Who's we?" Jack wanted to know.

"Dr. Phelan and I have been talking it over. We think the door controls are standard issue, so it may be possible to hotwire them."

"May be?" Vala asked Jack with a raised eyebrow that reminded him of Teal'c.

Jack smirked and keyed his radio once more, echoing Vala's question. "May be?"

"We haven't gotten a good look at the controls yet, Jack," Daniel put in, "but from what I remember of the last time I was here, we should be able to pry the control panel off and reprogram it to let us in."

Jack considered this for a moment, then asked the next relevant question. "And we'll be safer inside the room than outside?"

There was silence on the other end for a few moments. Jack could just picture Sam and Daniel discussing whether or not they would all get killed the second they stepped into the room.

The radio crackled to life, and Sam's voice floated out over the air. "We think there's a control panel inside the room as well. Probably a console where you can access the database and control the security system. If we can figure out how it works, we should be able to disable the cannons."

"As well as any other security protocols inside the room," Daniel added.

Jack sighed. That was a lot of ifs, shoulds and maybes. But if there was one thing he had learned in the years he'd been involved with this team, it was that those words were more of a guarantee than most people's definitely.

"Okay, we're gonna work our way back to your position," Jack informed the team. "Carter, wait until we get back and then you, Phelan and Daniel see if you can't bust the door down."

"Roger that," Sam confirmed over the radio.

Jack looked at Teal'c and Vala, who were both looking back at him with speculative expressions. "We've got to try something," Jack said, as much to convince them as himself.

"Indeed," Teal'c returned with a nod of his head.

Vala merely shrugged. In her time with the SGC, she'd seen crazier plans work, so she wasn't about to question this one. "Let's go," she said instead, turning to head off for the columns ahead of them.

~o~

By the time they reached the center of the colonnade, Sam and Daniel had already pried off the cover on the front of the control console and were up to their elbows in control crystals. Dr. Phelan appeared to be examining each crystal as it was removed, and he and Daniel were speculating about what order to replace the crystals to disable the door controls.

"It's got to be reverse order, Daniel," Phelan said.

"Not necessarily," Sam put in. Daniel looked at her, confused. "Jonas Quinn and I spent some time working on an Ancient device a few years ago," she explained. "The order for the crystals to reverse the effect of the device wasn't the exact reverse. We may have to try a few combinations to get the right one."

"Great," Phelan interjected. "An Ancient jigsaw puzzle."

Daniel smiled at the metaphor. This might have been an interesting puzzle to figure out, but doing it under fire wasn't his idea of fun either. "So let's just start trying combinations and see where it gets us." He paused for a moment, then a thought occurred to him. "Unless that's going to get us shot at some more?"

Sam turned to him, a sour expression on her face. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Daniel."

He hefted a couple of crystals in his hands, smiling at Sam. "You're welcome," came his sarcastic reply.

The first combination didn't work. Neither did the next two. They ran through several more, with similar results. All three were starting to get frustrated.

"Anybody give any consideration to what we do if this doesn't work?" Mitchell put in from his position behind the innermost column, nearest the console.

"We make a run for it back to the FRED?" Vala suggested.

"Why didn't we do that anyway?" he wanted to know.

Teal'c, from his position beside O'Neill behind the next column over, gave the answer. "Doctor Phelan and Doctor Lin are not experienced warriors. It would be a risk to allow them to return the way we came without disabling the defensive weapons first."

"Ah," Mitchell said, "good point."

"I think we've got it," Daniel called out over the banter.

"Everybody stay down in case this doesn't work," Sam advised.

Sam slid the last crystal in place, and behind her, the door to the room slid silently open. She picked up her P-90 and moved to the opening, Daniel following with his 9mm in his hand. Lopez and Tait from the GO Team had taken positions near the door at Jack's suggestion. They now flanked Sam and Daniel, ready to follow them into the room.

Sam stuck her head quickly around the corner, testing to see if anything would fire at her from inside the room. When nothing happened, she turned to Daniel and the GO Team guys and indicated that she wanted them to follow her into the room, each covering a different corner of the room.

As one they moved, fanning out into the room, checking for anything suspicious. When they found nothing, Sam keyed her radio.

"All clear in here," she reported to Jack.

"Roger. Stay put, Carter," he advised her. "I'm going to send the science geeks in. The rest of us will follow in a minute, so keep everyone away from the doors."

Jack turned and nodded at Morgan, who urged Dr. Phelan and his wife to head for the door. Blasts impacted the columns, causing stone fragments to pelt those still taking cover behind them. Vala and Leander, who was crouched behind her on the opposite side of the control console from Jack, ducked to avoid the worst of it.

Jack looked to Vala and Leander next, sending them, as well as Morgan, into the room. That left Mitchell, Teal'c and himself. By mutual, unspoken agreement, they each moved towards the door, Jack slipping through last of all.

As soon as he was through the door, it slid shut behind him, finally putting an end to the cannon blasts.

...continued...


	2. Chapter 2

~o~

Jack scanned the room with a critical eye. It was larger than he'd thought, its walls curving gently away from him, glowing a soft white from the lights along the edges of the floor. The center was dominated by a large console, not unlike the one outside. The science geeks, all four of them Jack noted with a slight smile, were hunched over it, pointing and commenting to each other furiously. If it hadn't been such a stressful situation, Jack might have laughed.

The rest of the team had fanned out in the room, looking for additional security devices that might pose a threat. Jack began to circle left, his eyes traveling the room as he went. They landed on a device attached to the wall on the opposite side of the room. He sucked in a sharp breath, automatically dropping his gaze to the floor. There, in the center of the room, was a circular pattern in a language that was all too familiar to him.

A pair of boots landed on the circle, and Jack followed them up to the face attached to them. Colin Leander frowned at his boss.

"Is something wrong, sir?" he asked, concern edging his voice at the unreadable expression on O'Neill's face.

Jack's head swiveled around and his eyes picked out Sam's head from the crowd gathered around the console. "Carter," he called out somewhat urgently.

Her head popped up at the sound of his voice. "Sir?" she responded, then smiled when she realized what she'd said. Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to Jack.

"Have these guys been tested for the Ancient gene?"

Sam cocked her head in thought, trying to remember the test results she'd seen months ago. "I think Tait is the only one who tested positive," she informed him.

Jack turned to find the man in question. He spotted him moving in the direction of the database. "Tait!" he called out, the authority in his voice causing the young man to stop in his tracks. "Don't go anywhere near that thing," he ordered, adding, "It'll suck your brains out."

Tait turned startled eyes, first to Jack, then to the database. "Yes, sir," he responded a bit unsteadily, wondering just what he'd gotten himself into.

"Don't let him scare you," Sam advised the younger man from her place near the console. "He'd just had a bad experience with these things."

Jack turned back to Sam and smirked. Bad experience! If you called having an entire culture's database downloaded into your brain and then start to overwrite you—twice—then he supposed what happened to him qualified. Still, better to be safe than sorry.

"Just stay clear of it, Tait," Jack advised him more calmly. "Since we don't know if it's active, we don't want any 'accidental downloads'."

Tait nodded and moved away in the opposite direction, putting as much distance between himself and the database as he could given the confines of the room. Sam's attention returned to the console, her eyes wandering the controls, trying to find a pattern or some indication of what they did.

Jack wandered over to the console and stood on the opposite side, watching the team work. They were still pointing and commenting, though they were much quieter than when they'd first come in. They hadn't tried pushing any buttons, though, which concerned Jack. He took a good look at the console, trying to see what it was they had to work with. It was smooth metal, curved to form a half circle that took up quite a bit of the room, and tilted at a slight angle with a myriad of buttons scattered over the surface. The writing and symbols were not completely foreign to Jack. Some of it was Ancient, but the rest he couldn't identify. Maybe that was the problem.

"So, how's it going, kids?" Jack asked nonchalantly.

Daniel looked up from his examination of the console and frowned. "We're working on it, Jack," he said with some annoyance.

"Are you sure there aren't any internal security systems we should be worried about?" At Daniel's annoyed look, Jack threw up his hands. "I'm just sayin'."

"I think this is it, Jack," Sam said from the other end of the console. Jack turned and saw her and Jenny examining a section of the controls near the far side.

After a few more seconds of thought, she pushed a button. Nothing happened at first, and she frowned as she went back over the labels on the controls. Just then, a panel on the ceiling directly above the console opened up, and a small cannon, similar in design to the one they'd seen on the hillside, dropped down. It scanned the room and then opened fire, shooting small energy darts at those gathered around the console.

"Everybody down," Jack called before hitting the deck himself.

The cannon continued to scan the area, firing occasionally at targets around the room. Vala, who had been leaning against the wall near the console, dropped, but couldn't avoid the blast to her thigh. Daniel, seeing her fall, ran over to her and started to look at her leg.

"You just couldn't stand not being the center of attention, could you?" he asked jokingly as he assessed her wound.

"You know me," Vala grunted, feeling the sting of the dart.

"I don't think it's too bad, but you won't be going dancing anytime soon," he informed her as he fished around in his pack for his first aide supplies.

The cannon moved to the next target, scanning the room's occupants before firing, this time at Sam, who narrowly missed being hit dead center. She dove behind the console, but not before a round hit her hand. Leander followed her, giving her cover as much as possible. Sam wrung her hand, checking for any wounds. She had a nice red scorch mark where the dart had hit her. She figured it could have been worse. It could have punched all the way through.

Shifting to its next target, it spotted Jack and fired. He managed to get out of the way, but that was only temporary. He joined Sam under the console, hoping it would forget about him and…what? Move on to the next target? That would be someone else on the team. Not good.

"Sam, shut it off!" he called to her.

"I tried, but the button won't work!" she called back from behind Leander.

Jack crawled out from under the console and began to rise to look at the buttons, hoping he could figure out something that would help. Immediately, the cannon's tracking system spotted him and fired. He dove back under the console, just avoiding getting shot once again.

"Look out O'Neill. I think it's targeting you, Sam and Vala," Mitchell called from his spot near the door. He'd noticed that the rest of the team remained untouched, while the three of them were taking all of the hits.

"What? Why?" Jack wanted to know.

"Naquadah," Daniel said, snapping his fingers.

"What?" Jack and Mitchell asked at the same time.

"You used to be a host," Daniel started. "So did Sam, and so did you," he said, turning to Vala. "That's why it's attacking only you three," he continued, turning back to the rest of the group. "I remember some of the translations now. It said they were trying to protect this database from the Goa'uld. Maybe it's scanning for naquadah."

"Makes sense, Jack," Sam said from her place beside him. "It's the one thing that hosts and Jaffa have in common."

"And Teal'c is immune because he's on Tretonin," he concluded. "How does that help us, though?"

"It does not appear that the system will attack anyone that is not—or was not at one time—a host," Teal'c, who had been following the conversation, said from across the room.

"Right, so someone should still be able to shut the thing off," Jack said. "Just not you," he looked at Sam for confirmation.

"I'm not moving," Sam confirmed.

"Daniel," Jack called out, "think you could figure this thing out for us?"

"As long as someone covers Vala," he responded. "She was hit in the leg, so she's not moving either."

Jack looked to Leander, who nodded and called to his team. "Morgan, move over to cover Vala. Tait, you and Lopez take position near the console, just in case."

There was a flurry of movement, and suddenly, a fresh pair of boots appeared next to the console. Jenny and Steve crawled out from their hiding places near Sam and Jack to lend a hand.

"Do you remember which button you pushed, Sam?" Daniel asked, crouching down to look at her.

She shook her head. "It won't work, Daniel, I tried it already."

"It won't work for you, maybe, but it might for me," he rejoined, a small smirk on his face.

"Right," Sam smirked in return. If the system were scanning for naquadah, and she had just activated it, the console might have been rigged to cease responding to someone it perceived as a threat.

"I think it was this one, Daniel," Jenny called from her position near the end of the console. She and Sam had been working on figuring out that section, so she was fairly confident it would work.

"Which one?" Daniel asked as he joined her.

She pointed to the button in question, and Daniel leaned in for a closer look. "Translation looks right. Give it a try," he instructed.

Jenny poked at the button. For a brief second, nothing happened. Then, suddenly, the cannon retracted into the ceiling, and the panel closed over it as if it had never been there.

Jack leaned out from under the console and looked up, making sure the thing was really gone before he crawled out. Satisfied, he moved, pulling Sam out behind him. Slowly the rest of the team gained their feet and moved closer to the console.

"You sure it's not going to come back out to play?" Jack asked Daniel.

"No, but for now we seem to be okay. Just nobody touch that button," Daniel advised the group.

Murmurs and shaking heads confirmed that the message was received. Jack turned to check the group over. They were looking a little ragged, but none the worse for wear. Steve and Jenny looked the worst, but considering they'd only signed on for a scientific mission and not a gun battle, the fact that they were still standing boded well.

"Okay, I suggest we take a break and get some food. We can discuss our next move after we've rested," Jack spoke to the group.

"Next move—" Daniel started, but was cut off by Jack's raised hand.

"Daniel, your girlfriend's been shot, and we've all had our nerves rattled. We need to take a few minutes and decide if we should stick it out or head back to the SGC and try again in a few days."

Daniel glanced over at Vala, still lying on the floor, leaning up against the wall, wincing as Morgan worked at bandaging her leg. His eyes slid over to Steve and Jenny, huddled close together, looking shaken and pale. He turned back to face Jack. He forgot so often that not every scientist in the world could handle the things he did on a regular basis. And Vala being hurt put a different spin on things.

"Yeah," was all he said, but it was enough.

It surprised Jack that Daniel caved in without a fight, not even reacting when he'd called Vala his girlfriend. It confirmed what he already knew, which was that they needed to rest and try to regroup.

"And see if you can find the button that turns off the Goa'uld detectors outside. I don't want to get shot at on the way out, too," Jack requested.

"Good point," Daniel allowed with a bemused expression before turning to check on Vala.

~o~

The klaxons from the unexpected gate activation were still echoing in the room as the last of the team emerged from the event horizon. Hank Landry, who had been up in the control room, burst through the crowd of SFs and took in the group. They were all dusty and bedraggled and he noticed that Vala was leaning on Daniel and limping down the ramp, while Sam appeared to have a bandage on her right hand.

"What happened?" he called out to no one in particular.

Jack stepped forward to explain. "We ran into a Goa'uld detector," he began, getting to the heart of the issue. "It beat us up pretty badly before we were able to disable it."

"Casualties?" Hank wanted to know.

"Just Vala's leg and Sam's hand," Jack informed him. "We decided we should head back and let everyone get checked out and rest up before we try this again," he continued, anticipating Hank's next question.

"Sounds like you all had an interesting few days," Hank observed. "Why don't you go get showered and head for the infirmary. We'll do the debriefing at 1300 tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me," Jack agreed, turning to address the team. "Okay, kids, you heard the man. The showers and the infirmary." Finding Daniel and Vala in the crowd, he amended his statement. "Not necessarily in that order," he shot Daniel a look.

"I know, Jack," Daniel put in. "We're headed for the infirmary first." Vala started to protest, but a look from Daniel shut her up.

"I think I'll join you," Sam said, waving her bandaged hand in the air as she followed Daniel down the ramp.

The team members began to clear out of the gateroom, already appearing more relaxed and at ease than they had when they'd stumbled out of the 'gate just minutes ago.

"How'd they do?" Hank asked Jack before he'd had a chance to move.

"They did well, General Landry," Teal'c put in before Jack could open his mouth. "The GO Team handled themselves with honor."

"It was strange for them, being off world for the first time, but I agree with Teal'c," Jack said.

"Good," Hank returned with a nod of his head. "Let me know when you think they're ready to go back out."

"We'll see how the geeks are feeling tomorrow, and then I'll let you know," Jack said, already forming a plan for their return to the field. "But I think next time, we'll leave the circus at home."

"Indeed," Teal'c intoned, slight annoyance coloring his voice.

Hank merely laughed and slapped Jack on the shoulder. "Go get a shower, Jack. Sounds like you earned it."

Jack looked to Teal'c, who merely inclined his head before both men turned and headed out the door. Hank shook his head. Even retired, the man could find trouble just about anywhere. With a chuckle, he headed off to his office.

~o~

Newton's first law of motion states that an object in motion will tend to stay in motion and an object at rest will tend to stay at rest.

Jack O'Neill stood on his rooftop observation deck and reflected back on the events of the last several months. After the initial activity of getting GO Ltd set up, and the excitement that was their first mission, life had settled into an easy pattern. And while running a corporation was, in many respects, more difficult than commanding an entire military base, he found that his life was less busy and more predictable now that he'd retired. Nice.

He also found he liked life this way. Really nice.

Jack let his mind wander back to that first mission, almost four months ago. Getting shot at was nothing new for him. But he'd hoped his GO Teams wouldn't have to deal with that. Still, that was why they'd only chosen former Special Forces personnel: so that in case things went bad, they would be prepared and able to handle the situation. And handle it they did. Jack had been impressed with their level-headedness and ability to adapt to a constantly changing situation. And he was flat-out floored when all four of them came to him the next day after the debriefing to ask when they could leave to complete their original mission.

The two scientists hadn't been quite as eager, Jack reflected. They had truly been shaken up, and it had been a week before they'd finally decided they wanted to try again. He respected them for that. They had obviously thought long and hard about the project and it's potential dangers, and had decided the research was worth the risk. So, a week after they had unexpectedly returned, the team geared up and tried again. It was a significantly smaller group that marched up the ramp that day, with only Jack and Teal'c accompanying the GO Team and Daniel's scientists. And since they'd left their equipment locked up in the room on the planet, they were able to travel faster.

This time it had been an uneventful trip, and when Jack and Teal'c stepped through the wormhole onto the ramp in the gateroom two days later, there were no klaxons blaring, and the only person there to greet them was Sam. Jack smiled at the memory. She had teased him about being shocked that he didn't find more trouble this time.

"Anybody home?" a feminine voice drifted up from the back deck.

"Up here," he called out, shaking himself out of his reverie.

Moments later, the blonde head of Sam Carter poked up at the top of the ladder. "Here you are," she observed.

Jack smiled. "Here I am," he replied. The moment reminded him of one so many months ago.

"What's that smile for?" Sam inquired as she crossed over to stand in front of him.

"Just remembering," came his easy reply.

It was Sam's turn to smile knowing exactly where his memory had gone. She remembered every second of that day, every word of the conversation that had brought them to this moment.

She slid her hands up over his chest, tugging him down for a gentle kiss. Jack circled his arms around her waist, reveling in the freedom to hold her, kiss her, love her.

"Whatcha looking at tonight?" she asked when they pulled apart. Sam turned in his arms to lean against him, his hands encircling her protectively.

"Actually, I was just thinking."

"Thinking," Sam repeated.

"Yes, thinking," Jack parroted back.

"Doesn't that usually get you in trouble?"

Jack leaned down and nibbled on her neck in a particularly sensitive spot. "Trouble? Me? Haven't you got us confused?"

"Okay, okay, I give," Sam laughed. She turned serious again and asked "So?"

"Just thinking about retirement," Jack informed her.

"No regrets?"

"No regrets," he assured her. He kissed her head before continuing on, sharing some of his thoughts from minutes ago. "I was just thinking about how nice it is to have settled into a routine. Running GO Ltd is more complicated than running the Homeworld office, but there's a steadiness to it that I find I enjoy."

"You didn't think you would." It was more of a statement than a question.

"I thought I would miss going out there," he cocked his head towards the blanket of stars twinkling overhead. "At least I thought I would miss it more than I do."

"You still get to go 'out there'," she reminded him.

Jack smiled. The perks of management meant that, if he wanted to, he could accompany a GO Team into the field. It wouldn't be often, and after that first mission almost went bad, he thought maybe luck wasn't on his side anymore. But every once in a while, he knew he would feel the pull of the Stargate, and resolved to schedule himself to accompany a team. It was a good compromise.

"Believe it or not," Jack began, "I'd rather be right here with you than anywhere else in this galaxy or any other."

Sam's eyes misted up at his words. She turned to face him, finding herself lost in his rich brown eyes. He leaned down and touched his lips to hers before pulling her into his embrace. They stood for long minutes, content to be in each others' arms, the only place either of them had ever really wanted to be.

The moment was broken when a familiar voice filtered up to them. "Jack, you here?"

"You'd better answer him," Sam said. "Or else he'll charge on up here and interrupt us again."

Jack chuckled at the memory. Smoothing his hand down her face, he called out to his guest. "Daniel, I'm up here."

"I thought you were home," Daniel Jackson responded from the foot of the ladder.

"Yep, I'm home," Jack repeated. "We'll be down in a sec."

"We'll—" Daniel stumbled to a halt. Oh no, he'd done it again. He certainly had a knack for interrupting those two.

"What is it, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked, noticing the frown on his friend's face.

"I think—no, I know—Sam's up there with him. I think we interrupted."

"Should we not leave?" Teal'c suggested.

"No, stay, stay," came Jack's reply as he navigated down the ladder, Sam following.

"O'Neill, General Carter," Teal'c said by way of greeting.

"Teal'c, you don't have to call me 'General' when we're outside the base," Sam reminded him as she crossed the deck to hug her friends.

Teal'c inclined his head with a smile, well aware that their friendship dictated that he could address her more informally off the base. He felt, however, that she had more than earned her new rank, and the title that went with it, and was determined to use it as a way of honoring her, a fact he explained in no uncertain terms.

"I guess he told you, eh Sam?" Jack observed with a smile.

Sam just smirked in return before turning to greet Daniel.

"Please tell me I'm not interrupting anything," Daniel whispered to his friend.

Sam smiled. "Daniel, you're not interrupting anything."

Daniel smiled in return. She could be lying, but he felt better for her having just said the words.

"Daniel, there's a cooler over by the back door. Why don't you grab us some beers," Jack instructed as he made his way to the BBQ to begin to fire it up.

"Is it not too dark outside for a BBQ?" Teal'c wanted to know.

"It's never too dark to BBQ," Jack informed his friend.

"I see," Teal'c replied, thought he clearly did not.

Sam went inside to retrieve the steaks out of the refrigerator, returning to the deck to find Teal'c hovering beside Jack, supervising the BBQ set-up while Daniel set the table and got everyone drinks.

Dinner passed slowly, with conversation, food and beer flowing freely around the table. When the food had been eaten, and the dishes done, everyone reconvened on the deck to lay around and stare at the stars.

Jack and Sam resumed their now-customary position, sharing the lounger. Teal'c and Daniel sat in chairs nearby. A comfortable silence settled around the group, each lost in his or her own thoughts.

"So, Jack," Daniel was the first to break the silence. "How is retirement, really?"

Jack smiled and hugged Sam a little closer. He'd known Daniel would ask sooner or later. Somehow, most people found it hard to believe that Jack O'Neill, intergalactic man of action, could be satisfied with retirement. Jack, to be perfectly honest, hadn't thought he'd enjoy retirement either. That's why he'd put it off for so long. But this wasn't really retirement. This was just another phase of life, and one that he found he enjoyed tremendously.

"Well, Daniel," Jack began, "I get to go fishing whenever I want, I have the most beautiful girl in the universe at my side, and I can still go through the 'gate when the mood strikes me. I'd say retirement is turning out quite well."

Daniel smiled. He hadn't thought Jack would really do it. He'd seen his friend try to retire more than once, with predictable results. Jack just wasn't the retirement type. This was different, somehow. Jack seemed to have everything he'd wanted out of life, all at once, a feat he'd never been able to accomplish before. Maybe this time it would stick.

"Sounds like the perfect plan to me," Sam put in, smiling up at her man.

"Indeed," Teal'c chimed in.

"Yeah," Daniel agreed. "Perfect."

They lapsed into silence again, enjoying each others' company. As the night wore on, the conversation turned sentimental, and each one shared memories from their time together, the laughter of deep and abiding friendship filling the night with its sweet sound.

~Finis


End file.
